Death certificate: Boston suspect died of gunshot wounds, blunt trauma

By Ben Brumfield and Melissa Gray, CNN

Updated 9:39 PM ET, Fri May 3, 2013

Photos: Suspects tied to Boston bombings23 photos

Suspects tied to Boston bombings – Dias Kadyrbayev, left, with Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsamaev in a picture taken from the social media site VK.com. Kadyrbayev is expected to plead guilty August 21 to charges in connection with removing a backpack and computer from Tsamaev's dorm room after the April 2013 bombing, according to a defense lawyer.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – Bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed during the shootout with police in Watertown, Massachusetts, on April 19, 2013. He is pictured here at the 2010 New England Golden Gloves.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured in a Boston suburb on April 19, 2013, after a manhunt that shut down the city. In July, he pleaded not guilty to killing four people and wounding more than 200.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – From left, Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev went with Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to Times Square in this photo taken from the social media site VK.com. A federal grand jury charged Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev with obstructing justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice relating to the removal of a backpack from Tsarnaev's dorm room after the bombings. Tazhayakov was convicted of conspiracy and obstruction charges in July 2014. He faces up to 25 years in prison at his sentencing in October. He has filed an appeal.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – Robel Phillipos, a U.S. citizen, was also arrested on May 1, 2013. He was charged with lying to federal agents about the bombing, according to court papers.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – Phillipos, Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev are accused of removing items from Tsarnaev's dorm room after the bombings on April 15, 2013. The items they took included a backpack containing fireworks that had been "opened and emptied of powder," according to the affidavit.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – The FBI released photos and video on April 18, 2013, of two men identified as Suspect 1 and Suspect 2 in the deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon. They were later identified as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – Boston Police released surveillance images of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at a convenience store on April 19, 2013.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – The FBI tweeted this photo on April 19, 2013, and urged Watertown residents to stay indoors as they searched for the second suspect.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – The FBI released photos and video on April 18, 2013, of two men it called suspects in the deadly bombings and pleaded for public help in identifying them. The men were photographed walking together near the finish line.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – A man identified as Suspect 2 appeared in this photograph by bystander David Green, who took the photo after completing the Boston Marathon. Green submitted the photo to the FBI, he told Piers Morgan in an interview.

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Suspects tied to Boston bombings – The man identified as Suspect 2 appears in a tighter crop of David Green's photo.

Story highlights

Source: Investigators find explosives residue in three places at the suspects' home

Source: Brothers considered a suicide attack on July Fourth, the suspect told investigators

The death certificate for Boston bombings suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died April 19 after a shootout with police, says he died of "gunshot wounds of torso and extremities" and "blunt trauma to head and torso," according to the owner of the funeral parlor that currently holds Tsarnaev's body.

Peter Stefan, owner of Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors in Worcester, Massachusetts, read the death certificate to CNN over the phone Friday evening. He said it has yet to be filed with the city of Boston.

There is no gravesite chosen yet for the 26-year-old Tsarnaev, Stefan said. He said that if he can't find a cemetery plot, he plans to ask the government to find a grave.

"Everyone deserves to be buried," Stefan said.

Tsarnaev's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, claimed his nephew's body, according to family spokeswoman Heda Saratova. The family plans an independent autopsy before burying the body somewhere in Massachusetts, she said.

Stefan acknowledged plans for a second autopsy.

Authorities say Tsarnaev and his younger brother, Dzhokhar, carried out the April 15 bombings at the Boston Marathon. The attacks killed three people and wounded more than 260 others.

The brothers later killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer, authorities say.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is being held at a federal Bureau of Prisons medical facility in Devens, Massachusetts, charged with using a weapon of mass destruction, a charge that carries the death penalty.

He is being treated for gunshot wounds to the head, neck, legs and hands that he received in the April 19 shootout with police that led to his brother's death. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot in the gunbattle, and Dzhokhar apparently ran over his brother as he tried to flee in a car, authorities have said.

It is not known whether the "blunt trauma" listed on Tamerlan Tsarnaev's death certificate relates to injuries from the car.

As part of their continuing investigation, investigators have found explosives residue in the apartment that the elder Tsarnaev shared with his wife and young daughter, a source briefed on the investigation said Friday.

The residue turned up in at least three places at the apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the source said: the kitchen table, the kitchen sink and the bathtub.

U.S. law enforcement officials briefed on the progress of the investigation have provided CNN with other critical details:

-- Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told investigators that he and his brother built the devices in Tamerlan's home;

-- He said the brothers originally planned a suicide attack on the city's massive Independence Day celebration, which draws about 500,000 people and is televised nationally on CBS;

-- Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told investigators that the brothers chose to target the Boston Marathon only a day or two before the event. They changed their plans because their bombs were ready sooner than they expected.

The officials spoke on background because they were not authorized to speak with the media.

Katherine Russell, Tsarnaev's widow, has remained largely out of view since her husband's death, staying inside her parents' Rhode Island home.